FERTILIZERS AND THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF WHEAT GROWN ON A SULPHUR-DEFICIENT GREY WOODED SOIL

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Abstract
Rate of gain, efficiency of food utilization, and nitrogen retention by weanling rats were used as criteria to determine the nutritive value of wheat grown on a sulphur-deficient Grey Wooded soil. All diets were supplemented with minerals, vitamins, and lysine. Grain from an area continuously cropped to wheat-fallow and from an area cropped to a 5-year grain-legume rotation were compared. On Breton loam, a Grey Wooded soil, grain is highly responsive to fertilization with nitrogen; and legumes are very highly responsive to sulphur fertilization. Samples were fed from plots receiving the same fertilizer treatments in each cropping system. Fertilizer treatments and cropping systems both caused occasional significant differences, and were associated with some consistent trends for differences, in nutritive value of wheat. In general, the grain was of substantially superior nutritive value when grown following legumes; in one year these differences tended to be greater with fertilizer treatments which increased yields. During the same year fertilization with manure tended to improve the nutritive value of fallow wheat. The animal growth and food efficiency were closely related to the protein content of the foods. There were differences between results obtained in 2 successive years. While the differences may have been due to the effect of seasons or to the biennial application of fertilizers they appeared to be closely related to protein content of the grain, a characteristic which long-time data have shown to be highly variable in grain from the Breton plots.

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